Kitty Hawk and the Hunt for Hemingway’s Ghost is the exciting second instalment in a new series of adventure mystery stories that are one part travel, one part history and five parts adventure.

This second book in the series continues the adventures of Kitty Hawk, an intrepid teenage pilot who has decided to follow in the footsteps of her hero, Amelia Earhart and make an epic flight around the entire world.

After flying across North America, Kitty’s journey takes her down south to Florida where she plans to get a bit of rest and relaxation before continuing on with the rest of her long and gruelling flight.

As Kitty explores the strange and magical water world of the Florida Keys her knack for getting herself into precarious situations sweeps her headlong into the adventure of a lifetime involving mysterious lights, ancient shipwrecks, razor-toothed barracudas and even a sighting of the great Ernest Hemingway himself.

This exhilarating story will have armchair explorers and amateur detectives alike anxiously following every twist and turn as they are swept across the landscape and history of the Florida Keys all the way from Key West to the strange and remarkable world of Fort Jefferson and the Dry Tortugas.

This is the second book in the ‘Kitty Hawk’ series by Iain Reading. This time Kitty has travelled south to the Florida Keys, as the first stop on her solo journey around the world in her trusted, De Havilland Beaver seaplane.

In ‘The Hunt for Hemingway’s Ghost’, Kitty is intrigued by the rumours that Hemingway’s ghost has come to settle in the Keys. Men talk about seeing his boat out at sea, and of the sound of his typewriter being heard in the night at his former home, now only occupied by the rare six-toed cats.

Kitty doesn’t think much of the rumours until she witnesses with her own eyes, what looks like Hemingway’s boat out at sea, and there at the wheel, is Earnest Hemingway himself. It can’t be him, can it?

Her suspicions are heightened when she also hears the clicking of the typewriter at Earnest Hemingway’s old house. Kitty decides that she needs to find answers for the unusual activity and begins her investigation.

Is Earnest Hemingway still in the Florida Keys, in Spirit form, or is there a logical explanation? Her discoveries lead to more unanswered questions, which see her travelling to the site of Fort Jefferson, in search of the answers.

The one thing that I like about the Kitty Hawk Series, is how informative the books are, in a non-formal way. I love learning about places that I have never been to, and find myself Googling for pictures or more information on subjects in the book.

Being from the UK, I knew of the Florida Keys and Fort Jefferson, but my knowledge was very limited. To find out all about why Fort Jefferson was built, what happened to it once it was built, and even things such as how they get clean, fresh water was exceptionally interesting.

Kitty is a wonderful, clever, brave young woman, who has an extraordinary amount of confidence, especially to go off flying around the world, solo. She reminds me of a cross between Amelia Earhart and Sherlock Holmes, with her unusual detective skills, and how she always comes good in the end

With her being alone, she makes lots of new friends along the way, though doesn’t have anyone to talk thorough her decisions with, especially when a lot of them are extremely dangerous.

I found myself hooked on the story and was intrigued to find out exactly what the ‘Loaf of Bread and Gumdrops’ were.

After my criticism of the first book and the amount of ‘talking to herself’, that Kitty did, it was nice to see that this book has removed at least 90% of it and reads much more fluidly.

Iain must of travelled far and wide as not only is his information factual, but the scenes are described perfectly, giving me enough information to be able to visualise Kitty’s surroundings perfectly.

A fantastic book that I feel teenagers will love. Oh and the Barracudas do look scary, but I to feel I would rather swim in the water with them than sharks.

I Like Root Beer. When I was younger I fancied myself a bit of a Root Beer connoisseur, drinking my favourite brand (A&W, of course) from tall, narrow champagne flûtes and revelled in the sound of the ice cubes clinking against the side of the thin glass, creating a magical tinkling ambiance as I looked down my nose at all the other inferior Root Beer vintages.

As I grew older and began to travel all across the globe I was naturally inclined to seek out the very best Root Beers that the world had to offer.

Sadly, as I was to discover, Root Beer is very much a North-American thing and you can’t really find it anywhere else in the world. On the bright side, however, it turns out that the world is a pretty great place even without Root Beer.

There are a million amazing things to see and as many more ways for all of us to see them, as our heroine and friend Kitty Hawk finds out in the course of her various adventures.

www.iainreading.com
@Kittyhawkworld
Facebook